Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 605

Nate Parker's The Birth of a Nation (Official HD Trailer)

Birth of a Nation (dir. Nate Parker) -- October 7, 2016

How Barbershops Can Keep Black Men Healthy

'The barbershop can be a safe haven for black men, a place for honest conversation and trust — and, as physician Joseph Ravenell suggests, a good place to bring up tough topics about health. He's turning the barbershop into a place to talk about medical problems that statistically affect black men more often and more seriously, like high blood pressure. It's a new approach to problem solving with broad applications. "What is your barbershop?" he asks. "Where is that place for you where people affected by a unique problem can meet a unique solution?"' -- +TED   

Malian Singer Rokia Traore Advocates for Refugee Rights Through Music

'Malian singer Rokia Traore was named goodwill ambassador of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for West and Central Africa. Through her music, she protests against the effect of wars and economic crisis on those fleeing their homes. Her latest album titled Né So, meaning "home" in the Bambara language is dedicated to refugees.' 

A Thunderbitchin’ Good Time: Brittany Howard’s Feminist World-Making

A Thunderbitchin’ Good Time: Brittany Howard’s Feminist World-Makingby Megan M. Burke | NewBlackMan (in Exile)
Brittany Howard is just badass. She’s flamboyant and complex, yet also precise and simple. Her vocals are crushing, her performances mesmerizing, and her energy contagious. This is probably why she was named Billboard’s 2015 Women in Music ‘Powerhouse’ Artist.  She is best known as the frontwoman, guitarist, and primary songwriter for the Grammy-winning blues rock band, Alabama Shakes, who rose to the spotlight in 2012 with their debut LP Boys & Girls and then peaked again with their follow-up record, Sound & Color.
A lot of people know Howard and Alabama Shakes. Less folks, though, know about her practically secretive side-project, Thunderbitch, and their self-titled debut LP released in August 2015.
Howard was born in 1988 in Athens, Alabama to a white mother and black father. When asked if she identifies as Black or mixed, she responded, “I’m both. Everything and nothing.” Her response so aptly captures her as a musician too: she’s rock and roll and blues, emotionally deep and a party animal, tender and tough, sense and non-sense. But then again, she’s none of this because she just does her thing. This is quite evident in Thunderbitch, a group comprised of four other members from Nashville acts. They’re mysterious. Their website says little (see here), they wear white face paint, wigs and all-black outfits, and the band members have taken pseudonyms.
Howard is Thunderbitch. It’s clear that the band is bringing back the theatrics of rock and roll. And the party. The most refreshing aspect, however, is that it’s all about the music and it’s largely Howard’s making. (A solid musical review of the album can be found here.)
The first and most well known track, “Leather Jacket,” makes clear that Thunderbitch is out to rock and roll. She sings about the seductive and transformative allure of a leather jacket: “They said it’s gonna change me/But I think that it has saved me/Now I gonna die in, that leather jacket/Knowing all them years that I spent/Looking totally fucking awesome.” The song finishes mired in this awesomeness: “I ain’t ever gonna take it off/No, no, no, no, no, no, no.” While it may seem superficial and simplistic, the song is radically self-affirmative, especially with Thunderbitch at its helm.
“Leather Jacket” displaces the politics of respectability and acquiescence in favor of a politics of self-definition. The sex-filled track “My Baby is My Guitar” takes such a politics in a different direction, offering us a vision of a woman’s sexuality not dependent on anyone else, but realized with her guitar. She sings: “My god I take you home/I remember the first time I turned you on…Everything I wanted was just in my reach.”
It matters that Howard’s alter-ego is the voice of these songs; she’s wild, assertive, aggressive, sexy, and damn good at what she does. That Howard’s a woman of color cranking the volume, defining herself, leading a band, and running her own party matters a great deal.
In a world, including the world of rock and roll, where women, especially women of color, are often props at the party and are seldom allowed to lead the band, Howard’s thunderbitchin’ party is a welcome vision of feminist world-making.  
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Megan M. Burke, PhD is Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Gender and Women’s Studies at Oklahoma State University. Megan’s work  focuses on the relationship between  racialized sexual violence and the lived experience of gender. 

Rosario Dawson: We Need to Stay the Course to Build a New Movement

'For months, actor and activist Rosario Dawson has been campaigning across the country for Bernie Sanders. She spoke in Chicago at The People’s Summit on how to build off the momentum generated by Sanders’ campaign.' -- +Democracy Now!  

Why O.J. Simpson Captivates Us Still

'Ezra Edelman, director of ESPN's O.J. Simpson: Made in America discusses how the story of O.J. Simpson continues to impact American culture in a unique way. Simpson, who always distanced himself from his blackness, became a national referendum on race relations.' -- +Big Think 

#StrangeFruit: Faith After the Violence of Orlando

'On this special episode of Strange Fruit , recorded after the shooting at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, co-host Kaila Adia Story talks with Reverend Alvin Herring about faith, hate, love, recovery, and support.' 

Gun Violence Is Now a Public Health Crisis

'Gun violence takes the lives of 30,000 people a year. That’s why doctors and scientists are taking a stand and calling it what it is: a full-blown public health crisis.' -- Mic

Black Men on How They 'Learned' to Be Fathers

'Men who become fathers learn quite suddenly that the learning curve is steep and kids don't come with a user's manual. The curve can be more dramatic for men who grew up without dads. Authors and dads Abdul Ali and Mark Anthony Neal talk about how they learned fatherhood.' -- NPR 

Three South African designers hit New York with 'Deep Settle Movement'

'Asanda Qumelwana, Christopher Mayiji and Fezile Retyu met at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Cape Town, South Africa where they studied graphic design and developed the Deep Settle Movement clothing line, which is featured in Wordsmiff's video for "BarXzam 3".-- AfricaNews